‘I will fight for it to the very end’ – Leclerc insists Ferrari will keep pushing in their 2024 championship ambitions

Charles Leclerc has insisted that he will fight “until the very end” for the championship in 2024 as he and Ferrari look to chase the leaders in both title battles heading into the final six races of the season.

Despite some ups and downs during the campaign, Leclerc has kept hold of P3 in the drivers’ standings after a good run of form across recent weekends – which included a memorable victory at Monza – and now holds 245 points, 34 away from Lando Norris in second and 86 adrift of leader Max Verstappen.

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Ferrari also occupy third place in the constructors’ table on 441 points. This means that they have a 34-point deficit to Red Bull in P2 while McLaren are looking strong at the top on a tally of 516.

Asked ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix if his focus for the final races of 2024 is on this year’s championships – or whether attentions will switch to developing the car with an eye on 2025 – Leclerc responded: “I think it’s a mix of the two.

“Of course we are fully focused on the 2024 car, but at the same time you’ve got to think as a driver that whatever you put now is obviously in the vision of 2025.

“Everything that you’ve learned until now and the new parts that will come before the end of the season – if there are any! – are in the direction that we think is the right one.

“It’s the direction that we are taking to go to 2025. We are fully focused on the 2024 season. However, whatever we bring to the car of course we think medium and long-term.”

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Pushed on whether he will still battle for the championships while there remains a mathematical possibility that they can be won, the Monegasque added: “I will fight for it until the very end.

“Whatever the position is at stake, you’ve got to do your absolute best as a driver whether you’re fighting for the fifth, fourth or first position – even though the fifth, fourth, third, second is a lot less exciting.

“The first one is the one I want and that’s the mentality I’ll have for the rest of the season, to win as many races as possible and then we’ll see where we end up in the championship.”

Leclerc acknowledged that the constructors’ crown is “more realistic” than the drivers’ as he explained: “[In] the drivers’ championship, we will need a lot of luck. Lately McLaren have been pulling away quite a bit in the constructors’, but never say never. We will push until the end.”

For now the immediate focus will be on performing well at the Circuit of The Americas, with Leclerc hopeful that the track can act as a good test to see if Ferrari can win again during the remainder of the season.

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“I think Monza, Baku and Singapore are very specific tracks so it’s always a bit trickier to take conclusions out of the upgrades we brought in the last few races,” the 27-year-old said.

“I think it’s the first proper test for the last upgrades we brought in order to understand how much of a step forward we’ve done and how much in the right direction we are working. It’s going to be a test this weekend and I hope it’s a positive one.”